Obesity is a condition manifesting almost directly as a consequence of modern day lifestyle that encompasses sedentary work-culture, high fat, calorie-rich diet, dearth of regular exercise or physical activity, addiction to habit forming substances such as tobacco and alcohol and high day-to-day stress levels. Obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally, with more than 1 billion adults overweight—at least 300 million of them clinically obese—and is a major contributor to the global burden of chronic disease and disability. Ischemic heart disease or cardiovascular diseases are the conditions, often referred to as lifestyle diseases, that have obesity as one of their root causes. Ischemic heart disease is the number one cause of death in the world today, according to a recent World Health Organization (WHO) report that may be found at http://who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs310/en/. Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have killed nearly 17 million people in the year 2011 which amounts to 3 in every 10 deaths. CVDs are among the top causes of death, in India as well, as per the WHO. The importance of managing obesity is, thus, evident.
Often coexisting in developing countries with under-nutrition, obesity is a complex condition, with serious social and psychological dimensions, affecting virtually all ages and socioeconomic groups. Obesity and being overweight pose a major risk for other serious chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and stroke and certain forms of cancer. The health consequences range from increased risk of premature death, to serious chronic conditions that reduce the overall quality of life.
It is, therefore, safe to state that managing obesity would substantially aid in reducing global mortality, increasing life expectancy and increasing quality of life. Dietary changes, exercise and activity, behavioral change, prescription weight-loss medications and weight-loss surgery are the common treatment arms for managing obesity. The treatment method to be undertaken often depends on the preferred choice of an individual undergoing treatment as well as the level of obesity.
The preferred treatment modality for weight loss is dieting and physical exercise. However, due to busy schedules and sedentary lifestyles, following-up with the first two methods seems to be practiced in an irregular manner. Weight loss surgery, on the other hand, is ruled out by a host of the population due to high costs involved. Therefore, there is a gradual shift towards an increase in the use of drugs.
The drugs used for weight loss generally alter one of the fundamental processes of the human body such as weight regulation by altering appetite, metabolism or absorption of calories. Orlistat is the only anti-obesity medication which is currently approved by the FDA for long term use. It reduces the intestinal fat absorption by inhibiting the pancreatic enzyme lipase. Rimonabant and sibutramine are the other drugs that had initially been approved for the treatment of obesity, but were banned eventually due to safety concerns. Because of the potential side effects, it is recommended that anti-obesity drugs only be prescribed for obesity where it is hoped that the benefits of the treatment outweigh its risk.
What is needed in the art therefore is a nutrition-based intervention that provides an inexpensive alternative to aid weight loss and weight management. The inventors of the present invention, therefore, envisage a cost-effective and safe herbal composition or a dietary supplement which is used for the management of obesity.